Readings

Religious Way of Service Must Be Banned

Since the beginning of His work in the entire universe, God has predestined many people to serve Him, including people from every walk of life. His purpose is to fulfill His own will and to ensure that His work on earth is brought smoothly to fruition. This is God’s purpose in choosing people to serve Him. Every person who serves God must understand this will of God. Through this work of His, people are better able to see God’s wisdom and God’s omnipotence, and to see the principles of His work on earth. God actually comes to earth to do His work, coming into contact with people, so that they may know His deeds more clearly. Today, this group of you are fortunate to serve the practical God. This is an incalculable blessing for you. In truth, it is God raising you up. In selecting a person to serve Him, God always has His own principles. Serving God is absolutely not, as people imagine it to be, simply a matter of enthusiasm. Today you see how whosoever serves God in His presence does so with the guidance of God and the work of the Holy Spirit; they are seekers after the truth. These are the minimum requirements that all who serve God must have.
Serving God is no simple task. Those whose corrupt disposition remains unchanged can never serve God. If your disposition has not been judged and chastised by God’s word, then your disposition still represents Satan. This is sufficient to prove that your service of God is out of your own good intention. It is service based on your satanic nature. You serve God with your natural character, and according to your personal preferences; what’s more, you keep thinking that God delights in whatever you wish to do, and hates whatever you do not wish to do, and you are guided entirely by your own preferences in your work. Can this be called serving God? Ultimately, your life disposition will not be changed by one iota; rather, you will become even more stubborn because you have been serving God, and this will make your corrupt disposition deeply ingrained. This way, you will inwardly develop rules about service to God that are primarily based on your own character, and the experience derived from your serving according to your own disposition. This is lesson from human experience. It is man’s philosophy of life. People like this belong to the Pharisees and the religious officials. If they never wake up and repent, then they will ultimately turn into the false Christs who will appear in the last days, and will be deceivers of men. The false Christs and deceivers that were spoken of will arise from among this kind of person. If those who serve God follow their own character and act according to their own will, then they are in danger of being cast out at any time. Those who apply their many years of experience to serving God in order to win the hearts of others, to lecture them and lord it over them, and to stand on high—and who never repent, never confess their sins, never renounce the benefits of position—these people will fall down before God. They are people of the same type as Paul, presuming upon their seniority and flaunting their qualifications. God will not bring people like this to perfection. This kind of service interferes with the work of God. People love to cling to the old. They cling to the notions of the past, to things from the past. This is a great obstacle to their service. If you cannot throw them off, these things will throttle your whole life. God will not commend you, not in the slightest, not even if you break your legs running or your back with labor, not even if you are martyred in your service of God. Quite the contrary: He will say that you are an evildoer.
As of today, God will formally perfect those who have no religious notions, who are ready to set aside their old selves, and who obey God in a simple-hearted way, and He will perfect those who long for the word of God. These people should stand up and serve God. In God there is endless abundance and boundless wisdom. His amazing work and precious words are awaiting even greater numbers of people to enjoy them. As it stands, those with religious notions, those who assume seniority, and those who cannot put themselves aside find it hard to accept these new things. There is no chance for the Holy Spirit to perfect these people. If a person is not resolved to obey, and does not thirst for the word of God, then they will be unable to receive these new things. They will just become more and more rebellious, more and more crafty, and end up on the wrong track. In doing His work now, God will raise up more people who truly love Him and who can accept the new light. And He will completely cut down the religious officials who presume upon their seniority. Those who stubbornly resist change: He does not want a single one of them. Do you want to be one of these people? Do you perform your service according to your own preferences, or do you do what God requires? This is something you must know for yourself. Are you one of the religious officials, or are you a newborn babe being made perfect by God? How much of your service is commended by the Holy Spirit? How much of it will God not even bother to commemorate? After many years of service, how much has your life changed? Are you clear about all these? If you have true faith, then you will cast aside your old religious notions from before, and serve God better in a new way. It’s not too late to stand up now. Old religious notions will strangle a person’s life. The experience a person acquires will lead them away from God, to do things in their own way. If you do not put these things down, they will become a stumbling block to your growth in life. God has always perfected those who serve Him. He does not cast them out lightly. If you truly accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, if you can put aside your old religious practices and rules, and cease to use old religious notions as the measure of God’s word of today, only then will there be a future for you. But if you cling to old things, if you still treasure them, then there is no way you can be saved. God takes no notice of people like that. If you really want to be made perfect, then you must resolve to completely abandon everything from before. Even if what was done before was right, even if it was God’s work, you must still be able to put it aside and stop clinging to it. Even if it was clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, done directly by the Holy Spirit, today you must put it aside. You must not hold onto it. This is what God requires. Everything must be renewed. In God’s work and God’s word, He makes no reference to the old things that went before, and He does not dig into old history. God is a God who is always new and never old. He does not cling even to His own words from the past, from which it is clear that God does not follow any rules. In this case, as a human being, if you always cling to the things of the past, refusing to let them go, and rigidly apply them in a formulaic manner, while God is no longer working in the ways He did before, then are not your words and actions disruptive? Have you not become an enemy of God? Are you willing to let your entire life go to wrack and ruin over these old things? These old things will make you into a person who obstructs God’s work. Is that the kind of person you want to be? If you truly do not want that, then quickly stop what you are doing and turn around; start all over again. God does not remember your past service.

Utterances of Christ of the Last Days (Selections)

Utterances of Christ of the Last Days (Selections)

Categories

Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Word Appears in the Flesh

Classic Words From God (Excerpts)

Since the beginning of His work in the entire universe, God has predestined many people to serve Him, including people from every walk of life. His purpose is to fulfill His own will and to ensure that His work on earth is brought smoothly to fruition. This is God’s purpose in choosing people to serve Him. Every person who serves God must understand this will of God. Through this work of His, people are better able to see God’s wisdom and God’s omnipotence, and to see the principles of His work on earth. God actually comes to earth to do His work, coming into contact with people, so that they may know His deeds more clearly. Today, this group of you are fortunate to serve the practical God. This is an incalculable blessing for you. In truth, it is God raising you up. In selecting a person to serve Him, God always has His own principles. Serving God is absolutely not, as people imagine it to be, simply a matter of enthusiasm. Today you see how whosoever serves God in His presence does so with the guidance of God and the work of the Holy Spirit; they are seekers after the truth. These are the minimum requirements that all who serve God must have.

Serving God is no simple task. Those whose corrupt disposition remains unchanged can never serve God. If your disposition has not been judged and chastised by God’s word, then your disposition still represents Satan. This is sufficient to prove that your service of God is out of your own good intention. It is service based on your satanic nature. You serve God with your natural character, and according to your personal preferences; what’s more, you keep thinking that God delights in whatever you wish to do, and hates whatever you do not wish to do, and you are guided entirely by your own preferences in your work. Can this be called serving God? Ultimately, your life disposition will not be changed by one iota; rather, you will become even more stubborn because you have been serving God, and this will make your corrupt disposition deeply ingrained. This way, you will inwardly develop rules about service to God that are primarily based on your own character, and the experience derived from your serving according to your own disposition. This is lesson from human experience. It is man’s philosophy of life. People like this belong to the Pharisees and the religious officials. If they never wake up and repent, then they will ultimately turn into the false Christs who will appear in the last days, and will be deceivers of men. The false Christs and deceivers that were spoken of will arise from among this kind of person. If those who serve God follow their own character and act according to their own will, then they are in danger of being cast out at any time. Those who apply their many years of experience to serving God in order to win the hearts of others, to lecture them and lord it over them, and to stand on high—and who never repent, never confess their sins, never renounce the benefits of position—these people will fall down before God. They are people of the same type as Paul, presuming upon their seniority and flaunting their qualifications. God will not bring people like this to perfection. This kind of service interferes with the work of God. People love to cling to the old. They cling to the notions of the past, to things from the past. This is a great obstacle to their service. If you cannot throw them off, these things will throttle your whole life. God will not commend you, not in the slightest, not even if you break your legs running or your back with labor, not even if you are martyred in your service of God. Quite the contrary: He will say that you are an evildoer.

As of today, God will formally perfect those who have no religious notions, who are ready to set aside their old selves, and who obey God in a simple-hearted way, and He will perfect those who long for the word of God. These people should stand up and serve God. In God there is endless abundance and boundless wisdom. His amazing work and precious words are awaiting even greater numbers of people to enjoy them. As it stands, those with religious notions, those who assume seniority, and those who cannot put themselves aside find it hard to accept these new things. There is no chance for the Holy Spirit to perfect these people. If a person is not resolved to obey, and does not thirst for the word of God, then they will be unable to receive these new things. They will just become more and more rebellious, more and more crafty, and end up on the wrong track. In doing His work now, God will raise up more people who truly love Him and who can accept the new light. And He will completely cut down the religious officials who presume upon their seniority. Those who stubbornly resist change: He does not want a single one of them. Do you want to be one of these people? Do you perform your service according to your own preferences, or do you do what God requires? This is something you must know for yourself. Are you one of the religious officials, or are you a newborn babe being made perfect by God? How much of your service is commended by the Holy Spirit? How much of it will God not even bother to commemorate? After many years of service, how much has your life changed? Are you clear about all these? If you have true faith, then you will cast aside your old religious notions from before, and serve God better in a new way. It’s not too late to stand up now. Old religious notions will strangle a person’s life. The experience a person acquires will lead them away from God, to do things in their own way. If you do not put these things down, they will become a stumbling block to your growth in life. God has always perfected those who serve Him. He does not cast them out lightly. If you truly accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, if you can put aside your old religious practices and rules, and cease to use old religious notions as the measure of God’s word of today, only then will there be a future for you. But if you cling to old things, if you still treasure them, then there is no way you can be saved. God takes no notice of people like that. If you really want to be made perfect, then you must resolve to completely abandon everything from before. Even if what was done before was right, even if it was God’s work, you must still be able to put it aside and stop clinging to it. Even if it was clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, done directly by the Holy Spirit, today you must put it aside. You must not hold onto it. This is what God requires. Everything must be renewed. In God’s work and God’s word, He makes no reference to the old things that went before, and He does not dig into old history. God is a God who is always new and never old. He does not cling even to His own words from the past, from which it is clear that God does not follow any rules. In this case, as a human being, if you always cling to the things of the past, refusing to let them go, and rigidly apply them in a formulaic manner, while God is no longer working in the ways He did before, then are not your words and actions disruptive? Have you not become an enemy of God? Are you willing to let your entire life go to wrack and ruin over these old things? These old things will make you into a person who obstructs God’s work. Is that the kind of person you want to be? If you truly do not want that, then quickly stop what you are doing and turn around; start all over again. God does not remember your past service.